n the search for new grazing grounds? Try looking where you least expect it. On a tree-forsaken, wind-blasted part of Queen West, flanked by the Candy Factory Lofts, Bar One and the mental hospital, Caju is an inviting oasis. Walking in is like having someone put two well-manicured hands on your cheeks.

As cozy as a V-dub, Caju’s decor is sleek and dramatic, with slick lighting fixtures, Jatoba cherry wood flooring, an elegant bar and a spacious dining room that flows fine when filled with eager diners. This agreeably shiny room makes you want to hunch your shoulders and huddle a little closer.

Caju's name refers to a Cashew nut, a fruit indigenous to Brazil’s northeast. Dining at Caju will satisfy your hunger and expand your vocabulary with menu items such as Frango, Com, Quiabo, Picanha and Lombo. Bringing Brazilian fusion to Toronto’s mainstream resto scene, Caju offers a small menu of enticing plates while sticking to its Brazilian roots, all in a setting that would hold its own on a magazine cover.

Allow the food to dispel your chills. The yin-yang of pungent, grilled sardines on a little corn flan (sardinhaus Grelhadas) with a fragrant herb and mango salsa. Try the Sopa de Feijao, a soup of puree black beans and garlic as deep and rich as your daydreams, or the dense, grilled marinated shrimp (Camarao) tossed against a cayenne garlic and white wine reduction.

Diners choose from a small array of geographically specific entrees, such as Picanha: grilled sirloin with garlic butter and served with farofa, crispy cassava chips and salsa. The seared chicken, a muskily sweet breast brightened by angu (polenta), spinach, in an okra sauce.